Untitled Sermon (7)

Trust your King.

He is good.

He is faithful.

The weight of ministry and the fatigue you might be feeling is not something Jesus is unfamiliar with, so keep going to him, and trust in the King.

Isaiah 43:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

The way our King revealed himself to the world was not by might and pomp, overtaking the strong with force, but by acquainting himself with grief so that we who grieve and sorrow can find help in a King who sympathizes.

Trust your King

He is good

He is faithful

The desires that you might have to be seen as important, for your ministries and your lives to look a certain way and be perceived as successful…this is not how Jesus sought for attention.

Isaiah 53:2 like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

Some ministries have flash, and excitement, and outward glory… and though I cannot say that all aspects of the attractional church are sinfully wrong, I do believe our churches should represent and resemble our King.

And what a relief this is…that Jesus’s outward beauty was veiled for a time so that what we could see and perceive about Him are those qualities that matter most…the garments of peace, love, compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, grace and mercy for broken sinners like us. These are what we can see in our King, and these are the qualities that we should desire for ourselves and the ministries we lead.

If and when God wants your ministry to grow…if and when God wants to bless you with a harvest…if and when God desires to multiply your ministry into a church planting and disciple making movement…He will do this…but your job is not to MAKE these things happen. Your job and my job is to remain faithful to Him.

The Kingdom minded pastor trusts in His King and Kingdom minded people do not despise the seemingly insignificant, and the small, and those things that the world says cannot matter, because we have a King who chooses to do things in such a way that His Father is most glorified, and the truly evil is put to shame.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Don’t think like the World. Think like King Jesus.

Be reminded of how He described what the Kingdom and it’s growth would be like.

Matthew 13:31 The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Of all things to compare the Kingdom of Heaven to. But this is what he chose. The smallest of all seeds. The smallest of all beginnings. A Kingdom proclaimed from a carpenter out of Nazareth, a despised village. Surely he called mighty men of valour like David did, to serve by His side.

Well, he called fishermen. Men with doubts and fears. Men with wicked and deceitful pasts. He even chose his first group to include a traitor…so remember when someone stabs you in the back and betrays you, you’re not alone. Christ is with you.

But this is how the Kingdom began to grow, as a small seed. The Kingdom itself reflects the King. Jesus was despised and rejected, and so must the church be at times. But Christ’s mission could not be thwarted, and neither will ours ultimately. “For when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants.”

That’s a promise. God is doing something in the soil of church planting, faithful preaching, slow and steady disciple-making, the plowing of Gospel ministers who don’t look back.

We’re a part of this work. Don’t forget the parable. There will be times when the work seems impossible, and uphill, and we’re wondering if the seeds that we’re planting are even being watered…and we will need to remember that this is God’s way…to get the glory for the work done in humble ways, through weak people submitted to Jesus Christ.

Psalm 126:4-6 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negeb! Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

Trust your King, brothers and sisters, for He wept with compassion over the work of saving His people. His compassion was deep and it was perfect for sinners. We may weep, but let us weep and mourn like Kingdom minded saints. We should not weep more for the pain of ministry than for the sin in our hearts that still hinders us from seeing and savoring Jesus the way we should in all seasons. Brothers and sisters, the work is meant to be hard and glorious, difficult and rewarding, full of weeping while we plant and rejoicing when we harvest.

And finally, let me say a few specific things to my fellow pastors.

The weight we bear is unique and few others can understand it. Family, work, ministry, the souls of the saints we’ve been called to watch over, and then our very own souls that wander in and out of deep fellowship with Christ, and seasons of sorrow.